COMPANY. 



mercial intercourse with all parts of the 

 WorM r an4 the general practice of insu- 

 rance reduced tike risk of foreign voyages 

 to a regular Addition to the cost of "com- 

 modities, there are very few branches of 

 foieign trade, which cannot be more ad- 

 vantageously carried on by individuals, 

 ov private co-partnerships, than by pub- 

 lic companies. 



W hen companies do not trade upon a 

 common stock, but are obliged to admit 

 any person properly qualified upon pay- 

 ing a certain fine, and agreeing to submit 

 to the regulations of the company, each 

 member trading upon his own stock, and 

 at his own risk, they are called regulated 

 companies. When they trade upon a 

 joint stock, each member sharing in the 

 common profit or loss in proportion to 

 his share in this stock, they are called 

 joint stock companies. The regulated 

 companies for foreign trade, which at 

 present subsist in Great Britain, are, 

 the African Company, the Turkey, 

 or Levant Company, the Russia Com- 

 pany, and the Eastland Company ; 

 they have, however, little more than a 

 nominal existence, as any person may 

 freely trade to these parts, without being 

 a member of any company, on paying a 

 very small additional duty. The princi- 

 pal joint stock companies for foreign 

 trade are, the East India Company, and 

 the Hudson's Bay Company ; the South 

 Sea Company has long given up its com- 

 mercial undertakings, and the Sierra 

 Leone Company has not yet acquired 

 much importance. There is, however, 

 a multitude of joint-stock companies es- 

 tablished, some with exclusive privi- 

 leges, but in general without any such 

 advantage, for carrying on the banking 

 business, for the different kinds of insu- 

 rance, for granting and purchasing an- 

 nuities, for making docks, navigable 

 canals, tunnels, roads, or rail-ways, and 

 for working mines. 



The utility of joint-stock companies for 

 many of these purposes, and the success 

 which some of them have experienced, 

 has frequently produced a disposition for 

 the multiplication of such establishments, 

 and an opinion that they might be extend- 

 ed to almost every branch of trade and 

 manufactures. The rage for forming pub- 

 lic companies was, in 1720, carried to a 

 degree of infatuation, which led thou- 

 sands to subscribe to projects the most 

 useless or impracticable, and gave rise to 

 such a spirit of speculation and stock-job- 

 bing us rendt- red necessary the interfe- 

 rence of parliament, fn consequence of 

 the act then passed, 6 Geo. I, c. 18, up- 



wards of two hundred projected compa- 

 nies ended in the loss and disappointment 

 of their respective subscribers. The 

 recollection of this circumstance prevent- 

 ed for many years any similar attempts, 

 till the frequency of subscriptions for 

 making canals shewed the facility of 

 raising large sums in this manner for any 

 public undertakings, and led to the for- 

 mation of joint stock companies for other 

 purposes. In the course of the year 1807 

 proposals were circulated for establish- 

 ing six new insurance companies ; seven 

 subscription breweries : four public dis- 

 tilleries; five genuine wine companies; 

 two vinegar manufactories ; a corn, flour, 

 and provision company ; a united public 

 dairy; a new medical laboratory for the 

 sale of genuine medicines; three coal 

 companies ; a clothing company ; a lin- 

 en company ; a united woollen company ; 

 a paper company ; two or three copper 

 companies ; a national light and heat com- 

 pany ; two new banks ; two commission 

 sale companies ; and a company for pur- 

 chasing canal shares, and lending money 

 for completing canals. On the Attorney 

 General proceeding against one or two of 

 these intended companies, most of the 

 others were abandoned. 



COMPANY, East India, was established 

 by a charter from Queen Elizabeth, dated 

 31st December, 1600, which, though not 

 confirmed by act of parliament, was then 

 considered as conferring an absolute ex- 

 clusive privilege. Under this authority, 

 the members of the company traded, for 

 about twelve years, on their separate ca- 

 pitals, which, in 1613, they united into a 

 joint-stock. In the reign of James I. the 

 company obtained a new charter, and en- 

 larged their capital to 1,500,000/. ; their 

 profits at this time were not very great ; 

 and in the year 1655, Cromwell dissolved 

 the Company and laid open the trade, but 

 the mischief which followed obliged him 

 to re-establish it about three years after. 

 New charters were granted to the Com- 

 pany in 1661, 1669, and 1676, confirming 

 all their former privileges; but as th se 

 privileges were derived merely from 

 royal charters, without the sanction of 

 parliament, their exclusive right began 

 to be questioned, and individuals fre- 

 quently endeavoured to participate in a 

 commerce which had become very ad- 

 vantageous. These private adventurers 

 increasing in number, the Company, in. 

 1683, found means to obtain "another 

 charter, by which all former charters 

 were confirmed, and they were empow- 

 ered to seize the ships and merchandize 

 of individual traders, to maintain military 



